Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Spotlight: Dare To Love Series by Carly Phillips


Dare to Love (Dare to Love #1)

About The Books:



Title: Dare To Love
Author: Carly Phillips
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Release Date: January 10, 2014
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | iTunes



When it comes to family, Ian Dare gives his all but in relationships he offers the bare minimum. Until one glimpse of sensual Riley Taylor arouses his dominant and protective instincts. He will do anything to possess her … and does. But any future with Riley must include him dealing his half-brother who is a constant reminder of the pain he’d rather forget.

Riley Taylor believes herself immune to domineering men – until charismatic Ian Dare turns a simple kiss into an all out assault on her senses and she discovers she likes his brand of control in the bedroom. As their affair heats up, they soon realize they complete each other in ways neither imagined. But Riley’s past is closer than she cares to remember, and her struggles with Ian’s dominance might just cost her everything. (love story, contemporary romance, alpha heroes, beach reads, sports heroes, bad boys, billionaire)


My Review:


Dare to Love (Dare to Love, #1)Dare to Love by Carly Phillips
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dare to Love by Carly Phillips is the first book in her Dare to Love series. It is a passionate and powerful tale of family, betrayal, lust and eventually love.

Ian and Riley make a very interesting couple. Their connection is powerful, but is it strong enough to battle their issues or will they lose the chance at what they could be because they are too focused on what they think they want?

I'm very intrigued by this series setting and this author and am eager to jump into the next book, Dare to Desire.



Excerpt:

“Are you okay?” he asked from his place across the room.

Riley drew a deep breath and nodded, still attempting to calm down, to assure herself that what she’d seen in the mirror hadn’t been reality. She’d sworn she’d never be that woman, the one who needed a man so desperately she’d accept anything and everything he dished out.


She replayed the events of the last few minutes in her mind. He’d been cold and unforgiving, but she was the one who’d flipped out. He’d grabbed her, yes, but the minute she’d told him to take his hands off her, he had.


And he’d apologized.


Two things she’d never seen her father do.


Rationally she knew that people could argue and get past it, and that’s all they’d done. Had an argument.


She swallowed hard and slowly crossed the room to where Ian stood. “I don’t understand everything that just happened between us,” she said truthfully.


He met her gaze, equal confusion in the gray depths. “I’m not so sure I get all of it myself.” He gestured to the sofa, and she joined him, settling in with just a few inches of space between them.


They sat in silence for long minutes until Ian finally spoke. “I’ve been telling myself for years I want nothing to do with them.”


She knew he was referring to his father’s other children, and she nodded, wanting him to continue without interruption.


His chiseled features were hard as he spoke. “When my father offered your address and phone number in exchange for me reaching out to my half siblings, I grabbed the opportunity. I let him bribe me, and the why has been eating at me ever since.”


“Maybe you really wanted an excuse to get to know them?” she suggested, thinking that deep down, Alex and Ian wanted the same thing.


He exhaled a harsh breath. “Yeah. And that’s what’s been bothering me. I don’t want to want anything from them,” he said, running a hand through his short hair.


“Why do you hate them so much?” she asked hesitantly. “The resentment for your father I understand. But Alex and his siblings are as much victims of circumstance as you and your sisters were.”


“Because he chose them.” Each word came out sharp and punctuated with pain. “And before you say it, I’m fully aware these aren’t the thoughts of a rational adult.”


Unable not to respond, she inched closer, clasping his hand in hers. “No, but they are the feelings of a wounded child.”


He frowned at that. “I was an adult when we found out about them.”


“About eighteen, right?”


He nodded.


“If you ask me, eighteen is very much an in-between age. You were entitled to the resentment.”


He looked away, and she sensed him sorting through his thoughts.


“Graduations, birthdays, a broken arm, a burst appendix. We didn’t have a father for any of those events. We thought he was too busy working, and not that it made it okay to miss out on so much, but it made sense. And I looked up to him because he had this strong work ethic, so he could provide for his family. For us.”


She saw the child he’d been, idolizing his father, and her heart softened even more.


“It turns out,” he went on, “even if he’d been working, he was living with them while he did. Because he loved Savannah, while my mother was just the marriage his parents had forced on him to keep the business running.” He leaned his head back against the sofa, his emotions running high.


She sighed, wishing there were words that would help, knowing there were none. She understood so much more about his side of things now.


“It makes sense you’d resent them. But it also makes sense that a part of you wants to be included in their family, especially since your sisters are close with Sienna.”


He glanced at her, looking more the hurt young boy than the composed man she was used to seeing.


“Well, it doesn’t matter, does it? Because Alex wants nothing to do with me.”


“He’ll come around.” She hoped. Because the guilt was killing her.


But guilt and her best friend’s disapproval didn’t change her feelings for Ian, which were developing and growing stronger in a very short period of time. She was still shaken up by seeing shades of her parents in her interactions with Ian, but the facts weren’t the same as her memories. And this revealing conversation showed her that even if she had flashbacks, she needed to remember to view Ian differently than she did her own father.


“And if he doesn’t come around?” Ian asked, still on their conversation about Alex.


Riley knew what he was asking, and she didn’t want to choose. She couldn’t. “All I know is, right now, I want everything to do with you.”


She rose and straddled him, her knees on either side of his waist, her sex directly over his now-thickening erection.


His hips surged upward, and he let out a low groan. “I know what you’re doing.”


“Really? Enlighten me.”


He met her gaze, heat and desire simmering in the depths. “I spilled my guts, and now you’re distracting me so you don’t have to spill yours about what happened with you.”


He was right, not that she’d admit it. “Today wasn’t about me.” And she wasn’t in the mood to revisit her childhood out loud, when she’d just gotten him beyond his, at least for now.


“That’s a non-answer.” He braced his hands on her waist, seemingly more himself.


“I don’t want to dig into my past right now. Okay?”


His gaze sharpened. “What happened earlier had to do with your past?”


She hadn’t meant to reveal even that much. Seeking a distraction, she ground down on his hard length, moaning when the sensations rushed through her, delicious waves of yearning that precipitated the building of a fast orgasm.


His fingers pressed deeper into her flesh, and her flimsy, lace panties grew wetter. Heat spread from her core throughout every part of her being.


“I will get to know you,” he said, his words a definite warning.


Maybe so, but not right now. She slid her body away from his so there was enough space to give her room to ease her hand into the elastic waist of his pants and brush the head of his cock.


His erection jerked against her hand.


“Commando?” she asked, the very thought sending heat spiraling through her.


He shrugged, as if his lack of underwear were an everyday occurrence. “I sleep nude, might as well make life as easy as possible.”


“I can’t say I mind.” She eased her fingers deeper so she could wrap them around his velvety, thick penis.


His hips bucked, his gaze darkened, and his erection grew even more solid beneath the firm grip of her hand. Knowing she could wreak havoc with his control caused a rush of pleasure to storm her senses. Her breasts throbbed with the need to be touched, but this wasn’t about her.


She wanted to take his mind off his family’s rejection. Make him feel better. Just make him feel.




Title: Dare To Desire
Series: Dare To Love #2
Author: Carly Phillips
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Release Date: March 18, 2014
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | iTunes

Dare to Desire (Dare to Love #2)

Quarterback Alex Dare, had it all -- an all-star football career and his choice of willing women -- until a severe injury forces him into early retirement. Social worker Madison Evans grew up in foster homes and knows what it means to have-not. She isn't impressed by Alex Dare’s wealth or charm. Not since she fell hard for him once before, only to discover she was just one of his too-easy conquests.


This time around Madison refuses to succumb to Alex so easily. But Alex wants Madison. And if there is one thing Alex does well, it’s to get what he wants. Can he convince Madison to take a risk and dare to love?

My Review:


Dare to DesireDare to Desire by Carly Phillips
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dare to Desire by Carly Phillips is the second book in her Dare To Love series. As we learned in the first book, the Dare family has dealt with betrayal in the form of their father and his two separate lives AND families.

This book focuses on Ian's half-brother Alex that we met in the first book, Dare to Love. Alex and Madison had a thing, but it crashed and burned leaving him wondering why he is the way he is and why he can't forget Madison, and leaving Madison bruised and determined to never again fall under the spell of Alex. As situations often do in some of my favorite stories, however, they are pushed into close proximity and forced to deal with their issues. Alex has to atone for his earlier betrayal of Madison and find a way to win her heart to him. Not an easy task with the armor she has erected around herself.

Yet another great read - onwards to book three, Dare to Surrender.



Excerpt:

“How did you get so smart?” He toyed with her hair, combing through the strands and twirling it with his finger.

She let out a sigh. “A lot of practice trying not to focus on bad things, I guess,” she said, surprised she was answering so honestly.


“I want to know more about those bad things. More about you. The things you don’t talk about,” he said in a low, soothing voice.


She knew what he wanted. It was a story she rarely told. Someone had to earn her trust and her heart before she’d even consider admitting that neither of her parents had wanted her. Saying it out loud made her vulnerable, and Madison normally didn’t allow many people that close. She’d kept Alex at a distance the first time they were together, even as she’d known how hard she was falling in such a short time. Because she knew he wasn’t a forever kind of guy, and the truth went to the deepest hurt she nursed in her heart.


But she could no longer hold back from this man. She didn’t want to. He’d been asking for her trust, and if she was going to try, as he seemed to be doing, she had to let him in.


She sighed and said, “My mom left me and my dad. She said she was going to work one morning, and she never came back. When he realized something was wrong, he called her job, her friends, but no one had heard from her.” She shrugged. “We didn’t have any other family that I knew of, so it was just me and him.”


He began to stroke her hair, long, soothing touches this time, keeping them connected as she spoke.


“How old were you?”


“I was twelve, and it was horrible. My father worked really long hours in construction and came home really late. Looking back, I know he went out drinking before coming home. I would let myself into the house after school, make myself dinner with whatever I could find in the fridge or the pantry, do my homework and … cry myself to sleep.”


“Fuck,” Alex muttered.


She was glad he couldn’t see her face and appreciated the strength of his arms wrapped tightly around her. “One day he said we were going clothes shopping. I was really excited because, one, we never ever bought new things, and two, my clothes were getting tighter. I’d started developing and … you know.”


She pulled in a deep breath, the lump in her throat so big it actually hurt. “You’d think this would get easier.” She buried her face against his side.


“Take your time, Angel.” His voice was warm and soothing, but she felt the tension emanating from him.


It wasn’t an easy story to tell. It couldn’t be an easy one to hear. Riley had cried when Madison had told her, and Madison had only given the other woman the bare bones.


My father dumped me at the mall, never to be seen again. The cold, clinical version. And even then, Madison hadn’t wanted to face her friend after the revelation, but Riley had already inserted herself in Madison’s life and wasn’t going anywhere. She, more than anyone, had taught Madison what a true friend really was.


She lifted her head and drew a deep breath. “So we went to the mall. My father bought me a soda, and we wandered around the stores for a little while, and then he asked me if I needed to use the bathroom.” Her body shook despite Alex’s secure hold, the day coming back to her in vivid detail. “I went to the ladies’ room, came out…” She couldn’t say the words. To her mortification, a sob came out instead.


“That bastard,” Alex said, his voice tight, anger evident beneath the surface.


He embraced her with his entire being, holding her close, but fury vibrated in his big, muscled body. Anger for her. She knew it without him having to explain, and the thought that he cared for her enough to feel that kind of emotion undid her completely. The protective walls that had always kept her apart and distant crumbled around her, and she felt things. Things she never wanted to experience again.


“No more,” he said into her hair. “Don’t relive it for me.”


She normally didn’t relive it at all. Didn’t allow herself to remember the intense and all-encompassing pain and loss of that day and every one that followed. But now the dam had broken, and the memories flooded back, along with big, heaving sobs.


She’d walked out of the mall bathroom, looked around, and her dad had been nowhere to be found. She hadn’t panicked. Not at first. She’d checked all the stores they’d been in. The men’s stores. The food court. Finally she’d returned to the bathroom thinking maybe he’d gone back to find her. Some good Samaritan must have noticed the little girl sitting on the floor outside the restroom crying and called mall security. The rest was a blur, along with the ensuing years of her life spent in foster homes.


Alex didn’t know how long she sobbed. From the way she cried, he figured it had been forever since she’d let her emotions free, and she exhausted herself in the process. The heavy sobs quieted first. Long after she grew silent, Alex held Madison in his arms, his heart beating hard in his chest. He’d wanted her to trust him, not unleash this kind of grief. Nausea filled him, along with pain that reached to the depths of his soul.


He stroked her hair, aware of the smallest hiccup or sound she made. Soon her breathing evened out, and he hoped to God she’d fallen asleep. A dreamless, memory-free sleep. She deserved as much.



Title: Dare To Surrender
Series: Dare To Love #3
Author: Carly Phillips
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Release Date: July 15, 2014
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | iTunes

Dare to Surrender (Dare to Love #3)


After ending a relationship to a cheating, domineering man, Isabelle Masters takes off in her leased Mercedes, only to be arrested for grand theft and hauled to a local police station. To her surprise, she is rescued by the most unlikely person possible, Gabriel Dare, a man she’s been attracted to for far too long. Gabe offers Isabelle freedom along with an invitation to Eden, an exclusive island resort where everything and anything is possible.

Although Gabe yearns to possess Isabelle, he knows all too well he must fight his primitive need to bind her to him, and instead help bring out the independent woman she yearns to become – or risk losing her for good.

A woman who needs to run her own life. A man who needs to exert control. Can she surrender to his erotic demands without losing her sense of self once more?


My Review:


Dare to Surrender (Dare to Love, #3)Dare to Surrender by Carly Phillips
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dare to Surrender by Carly Phillips is the third book in her Dare to Love series and also a crossover to the Invitation to Eden line.

Isabelle has been in a steady relationship with Lance. Not the best person in the world, Lance is domineering, controlling and full of all kinds of bad personality traits. When she chooses to leave him with the few possessions she does have, he decides to report the car stolen and have her arrested. Nice guy right?!

Gabe Dare comes to her rescue, but despite his attraction to her, tries (a little) to keep his distance. He wants to control and protect and he fissures she's already had enough of that. But when it's a man like Gabe wanting to domineer... who can help but be ok with it!!!

Another passionate, well written tale that will keep engrossed and absorbed in the story from the first page to the last.





Title: Dare to Submit 
Series: Dare To Love #3
Author: Carly Phillips
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Expected Publication: September 8, 2014
Pre-Order: iTunes

Dare to Surrender (Dare to Love #3)


The book is $2.99 for pre-sale and will raise after that.


Decklan Dare knows about the unexpected loss of loved ones and for this reason, he values control in all areas of his life. Amanda Collins enjoys the freedom she finds in casual encounters without the emotional connection a relationship brings. They meet and their physical attraction is mutual but both experience feelings that could run deeper – if they drop their guard and let each other in. Decklan is first to trust, but when he discovers the secret Amanda’s been hiding, will he forgive? Or will he rebuild every wall before she has a chance to explain?



About The Author:


New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Carly Phillips N.Y. Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Carly Phillips has written over 40 sexy contemporary romance novels that today's readers identify with and enjoy. After a successful 15 year career with various New York publishing houses, Carly is making the leap to Indie author, with the goal of giving her readers more books at a faster pace at a better price. Her Serendipity books will still finish up in January/February 2014 via Berkley as planned. Carly lives in Purchase, NY with her family, two nearly adult daughters and two crazy dogs who star on her Facebook Fan Page and website. She's a writer, a knitter of sorts, a wife, and a mom. In addition, she's a Twitter and Internet junkie and is always around to interact with her readers.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon



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